Posted on 05/16/2006 2:16:39 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
Honda Motor Co. plans to build a new automobile factory in North America, according to a news report Tuesday, as the Japanese carmaker tries to bring supply in line with surging sales.
The assembly plant would be Tokyo-based Honda's sixth in a region that accounts for about half the company's annual global sales.
The location of the factory is not yet decided but it is slated to open in 2009 with a capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing sources for the information.
Honda spokesman Shigeki Endo declined to comment on the report, which he said was "just based on speculation."
Honda was scheduled to hold a news conference on an undisclosed topic Wednesday in Tokyo. Endo would not give details about the conference except to say "several" things would be announced.
Honda sold 1.65 million units in North America last year and forecasts sales to rise to 1.72 million units in the current year. The company now has annual production capacity of 1.4 million units in North America with five plants, meaning Honda must import autos to meet North American demand.
Honda has two plants in Ohio, and one plant each in Alabama, Canada and Mexico.
Endo said the company wants to keep its ratio of domestically-built autos steady at around 80 percent to the total sold in North America. The target implies that Honda has to somehow crank up North American output.
"We would like to boost both sales and capacity," Endo said, adding that no plans beyond this year have been announced.
Worldwide, the company sole 3.365 million units last year, and is forecasting sales to rise 9.7 percent to 3.693 million units in the current business year ending March 2007.
It is likely the new plant will be built near an existing one, and the new facility is expected to roll out such models as the Civic, and the Fit, a small, five-door model that the firm had been exporting from Japan, the Nihon Keizai said.
Under the expansion plan, the facility would eventually be fitted with a second production line to boost capacity to 300,000 units, which combined with other upgrades, could bring Honda's total North American output to 1.8 million vehicles -- about the same as that of larger rival Toyota Motor Corp., according to the newspaper.
honda ping
The same people will switch to the Al-Queda brand from their favorite japanese car.
Made in America by Japanese companies. Profits go to Japan. Yes, some of what Honda buys is from American companies. But much/most of it is from Japs that have set up shop here. Same companies Honda does/did business with in Japan.
Same applies for Toyota and Nissan over here
There you go with that again.
Honda stockholders get the profit. You can buy Honda stock from your broker, as it is listed on the NYSE.
Honda pays US taxes, and its employees pay US taxes. And many ancillary businesses benefit from Honda's presence in the US.
Stop trying to make Honda into an enemy. They are insourcing jobs here in the US and are being very good citizens.
"I find that very hard to believe. If you can show me the source that would be great. I'll look around myself."
Start with Honda's SEC filings. No, start with asking yourself why Honda was complying with SEC regulations and goes on-and-on about why its entire operation is audited, at great expense, in compliance with Sarbane-Oxley.
http://world.honda.com/profile/financial/
Unlike the big three, Honda will likely offer a decent future to the Americans they employ.
Hop to it American peasant! Be grateful for your job. Work hard for your Japanese masters
You seem to dislike foreigners, intensely.
Yet you want folks to support Israelis (something I think should be done, too).
Very inconsistent.
I also think that the manufacturing process has a lot to do with it. I don't know much about GM/Ford Manufacturing, but the Toyota Production System works great.
One of my last companies, a well known manufacturer, switched over to the TPS and it worked wonders.
Now you're just being demagogic and stupid.
Unemployed by US automaker?
Right bub. Yer putting me on a wild goose chase. Honda does not breakdown ownership by nation. The numbers will not be on that website
Are you thinking of Honda-America being 50% American owned?
Work hard for your Honda foreign masters!!! Just like you were in a 3rd world nation that has no ability to make automobiles. America behaving like a 3rd world nation and you are oblivious
And who owns Honda (shares)? Who gets the profits from Honda's American operations? I await your figures.
Oh wait! I forgot that you don't give a fig.
American depository accounts are owned by Americans or legal American residents only and the amount is clearly stated on the page.
(From back in the day when direct TSE investment was difficult.)
But the salaries, which is a lot more money go to Americans. And the profits go to the equity holders, which includes a lot of Americans.
Long ago
And that doesn't even account for direct American investors of Jap. Stock.
OK. So who owns Honda? Any sites you have for me to visit?
I sympathize with you. Such figures are hard to uncover. Break downs by nationality of who owns Japanese automakers is hard to find
And a lot more, many millions more Japanese
That's not a misprint -- I said 1957.
Uh, the French do.
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